BUCYRUS — Gabe Helbert had a tough decision to make at the beginning of the season. With six players capable of starting at the linebacker position, he needed to find a way to get all of them on the field at once.

This is when he approached Cole Heinlen and asked if he would switch to strong safety for his junior year, to not only make sure he saw the playing time he had earned, but to help out the secondary.

"Cole was willing to change positions when we had to make moves in our secondary with an injury and some other things in terms of getting our best guys on the field," Helbert said. "We had four or five linebackers on the team capable of playing, and in order to get those guys on the field with Cole, we had to move some people around and he was one of those guys willing to move and he's done a great job.

"He's a high-energy kid and plays with a really great enthusiasm and has very good instincts as well."

The transition wasn't easy for Heinlen, as he was always a run-first defensive player having been a linebacker for the majority of his career.

"The hardest (thing) was that I had to be a pass-first player," Heinlen said. "It was a little hard because I had never played safety before, but we have some pretty good coaches and they helped out a lot to make it a pretty easy situation."

Helbert said Heinlen really began to show progress starting last year. The then-sophomore got better week-after-week and it forced Helbert to reward him with more time on the field.

Despite being on the ground already, Cole Heinlen still does whatever he can to wrap up Bucyrus' Zane Seybert earlier in the season.(Photo: Mike Dornbirer/Correspondent)

"We started to play him more as the season went on because he was just a kid getting it done in practice and he was making plays on the scout team," Helbert said. "In the (junior varsity) games, he was a guy we had to get on the field and he really came into his own this year as one of our outside linebackers.

"When he made the move, he was very positive about it and started working on his job and responsibility as a safety in our defense, which requires coverage responsibilities and different types of coverage. It's one of those things where he's continued to develop, but he had a really great offseason, he works really hard in the weight room."

Working hard in the weight room has resulted in Heinlen's growth, literally. He feels he's made the most progress this season in his overall size and aggressiveness on the field.

Helbert has been pleased with how Heinlen has improved at his new position with each passing week, and it has led to him accumulating 110 tackles, third-best in the Northern 10 conference. He's also tied for the league-lead with three forced fumbles. Though he doesn't have any interceptions, Helbert thinks that's just one aspect of his game he will continue to work on.

"I think it's something he's continuing to learn," Helbert said. "He's done a very nice job with it and he's gotten better in coverage. He's definitely a run-first type of safety, but he's done a nice job in coverage. He runs, he has great energy and his physical shape just allows him to play at a high level throughout the game because he's really taken that part of the game and worked at it."

Heinlen will be in for one of his toughest matchups yet when the Royals face Ayersville in the regional semifinal. The Pilots have a quarterback who isn't afraid to go deep and a wide receiver unlike anyone Helbert has seen before. Heinlen says his team has done everything it can so far in practice and watching tape to prepare for the dynamic duo.

Regardless of their opponent, it's the unique mentality the Royals' defense has that makes them just as dominant as their explosive offense.

"I think as a defense, we have a 'bend, don't break' (mentality)," Heinlen said. "Teams will get in the red zone and that's really where we step it up and just make stops when we need them."